Submarine

Price:
£19.99

Board Game, 2-5 Players, Ages 10+ by Rio Grande GamesEvidence of Atlantis! Is this mythic civilization a reality?Picture from the oceanic bathyscaphe Neptune XIII seems to prove the existence of an ancient civilization under the sea. Inside a sub-marine canyon this modern technical jewel discovered what is claimed to be vestiges of the mythic civilization of Atlantis. The pictures immediately provoked great excitement among the scientific community and the biggest international foundations have already organized expeditions to recover these mysterious artifacts.**********3-5 players, 45 minutesdesigned by Leo Colovinireviewed by Greg Schloesser<br />Leo Colovini apparently has a close working relationship with the fine folks at Winning Moves Games. He has had several of his designs released by the company, the latest of which is Submarine. As is the case with many of his creations, this one was also licensed and released in English by Rio Grande Games.

The theme is a bit more tightly connected than many of Colovini's releases. Players represent archaeologists exploring the ruins of the mythical ancient civilization of Atlantis, now sunken far below the depths of the ocean. Players guide their bathyscaphes (submarines) into the deep in search of treasures and priceless artifacts, hoping to be the first player to retrieve twelve different artifacts and publish their findings.

Coincidentally, I am in the process of writing a paper for my Ancient Greece history class that deals with the possible links between the Minoan civilization of Crete and the fabled continent of Atlantis. So, the game's theme certainly resonates with me.

The board depicts the depths of the ocean with the ruins of Atlantis lying beneath the surface. Superimposed over the image is a 6x5 grid, which will regulate movement and the placement of the sunken treasures. 60 treasures (5 each of 12 different types) are placed onto the board, with the bulk of the treasures being placed on the bottom rows.

Players each receive a recovery ship, 3-5 bathyscaphes, a joker tile, and handful of recovery cards. The cards are colored to match the treasures, and the proper colored card must be used in order to retrieve a treasure. Each player draws three cards from his face-down stack into his hand, with the remaining serving as his personal draw pile. After placing their bathyscaphes in spaces on the top two rows, the game begins.

A player's recovery ship begins and remains on the surface of the ocean, which is the top row. The player's first action of every turn is to move this ship along the top row. He must move it at least one space, but may move it as far as he desires. However, when a player's ship moves off the board, the player may not return to the board until all other players have moved their ships off the board as well. This often gives one's opponents several more turns before you can move again.

Once a player has moved his recovery ship, he may then give orders to any of his bathyscaphes that occupy the same column as his ship. Bathyscaphes may be ordered to:

a) Move. The bathyscaphe can be moved to any space either in the row it currently occupies, or in the rows above and below it.

b) Collect treasures. In order to collect a treasure, a bathyscaphe must occupy a space containing one or more treasures. The player must then play a card matching the color of the treasure he desires to collect. This card is discarded and is out of the game. Further, he must then give a card from his stack to each player who has a bathyscaphe in the same space, or any space in the same column above his bathyscaphe. These cards are taken from the player's face-down stack and are placed onto the face-down stack of the recipient(s).

The interesting aspect here is that the number of cards available in the game diminishes as the game progresses. Each time a treasure is collected, the card played to retrieve it is removed from the game. The only way to receive new cards is to position your subs so that your opponents must give you a card when collecting a treasure. I've seen several players grab lots of treasures, depleting their hand of cards in the process. Then, they are forced to go numerous turns without possessing enough cards to collect needed treasures.

The goal in treasure collecting is to collect all twelve treasures. The first player to accomplish this feat emerges victorious. Thus, players must play - and conserve - their cards wisely. However, there is an incentive to grab a treasure that you may already own. You see, these duplicate treasures become `jokers', and can be used to grab any treasure without playing any cards. This is powerful, and the wise player will grab a couple of jokers and save them for late in the game when cards are scarce.

Once a player has completed his bathyscaphe actions, he then refills his hand to three cards from his personal deck. If there are not enough cards in his deck, then he plays short-handed until he can obtain cards from other players when they collect treasures.

As mentioned, the game ends when one player collects all twelve treasures. However, it can also end when one column is completely depleted of treasures (jokers excluded). This forces players to keep an eye on both possible situations, and also allows players to manipulate these in their favor.

Someone joked that for a game about diving for treasures, Submarine was dry and not too deep. They were joking, as I find the game has a nice theme that fits reasonably well with the mechanics. Plus, there appears to be considerable depth here, with lots of decisions facing players on each turn. Proper positioning of one's subs is important to optimize your chances of collecting treasures, as well as securing cards from your opponents. Further, from time to time, one should also maneuver one's subs in order to make it too expensive for an opponent to nab a treasure. These decisions are tough, as there are many options to consider and paths to pursue.

While I have enjoyed my playings, I do have a concern that, when played defensively, the game could drag near the end. It is possible too for players to cooperate by grouping their subs so that collecting needed treasures would be prohibitively expensive. This could cause the end-game to be delayed, and the fun factor to be reduced.

However, I must say that while I have this concern, a wise player may be able to plan for such a combined assault. Collecting duplicate treasures to use as wild cards can provide a method to avoid such tactics, while aiming for the depletion of a column can also foil these efforts. So far, none of my games have suffered from this delayed ending situation.

For me, I've found myself enjoying Leo Colovini's designs more and more. Submarine falls into the ``like it'' category for me. So far, I've enjoyed my visits to the depths of the ocean, and the treasures found have been appreciable. I just hope that future journeys will continue to yield rich discoveries.